Graduate teachers not up to scratch: Victorian government

By Jewel Topsfield

Universities and colleges are failing to produce teachers who meet the needs of Victorian schools, according to the state government.

In a submission to the federal review of teacher education, Victoria says it has “higher expectations for teacher education graduates” in some areas.

Education Minister Christopher Pyne announced a review into teacher education.

Photo: Ken Irwin

Of concern was that degrees were not equipping teachers with the specialist knowledge required in literacy, maths and science.

Courses often did not devote enough attention to teaching children with special needs - this was seen as an area of specialisation rather than a core requirement for every teacher.

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And classroom organisation and behaviour management skills had been consistently identified by principals as areas in which graduate teachers were often lacking.

“There are growing concerns about the capacity of providers to produce sufficient graduates with the professional skills and knowledge required to teach in contemporary classrooms.”

The submission suggests reducing the number of universities and colleges that offer teaching degrees in order to improve quality.

There are 400 courses offered at 48 institutions in Australia, including 12 universities, colleges and TAFEs in Victoria.

Victoria wants federal support to introduce numeracy and literacy tests that teaching students must pass before they graduate, as well as compulsory practical components for all students in rural or disadvantaged schools.

It also wants a tougher selection process to ensure students have an aptitude for teaching.

An example, it says, is the Teacher Selector tool used by Melbourne University, an online test that measures personality traits such as emotional stability, conscientiousness, perseverance or grit, and openness to views of others.

Victoria’s submission comes amid anxiety over the low entry scores required to study teaching, with most top year 12 students eschewing the profession.

The average ATAR (tertiary entrance rank) for education courses in Victoria was 61.9 this year, dropping as low as 40.25 at Federation University’s Mount Helen campus.

This compares to an ATAR 98.95 for biomedicine at Melbourne University and 98 for law at Monash University.

Entry standards for teaching degrees are outside the scope of the federal review of teacher education, chaired by Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor Greg Craven.

But in a submission to the review, Melbourne University recommended that all teaching courses become graduate-entry rather than undergraduate degrees over time.

“A major threat to teacher status lies in the perception that less able people are being admitted into teacher education as reflected by low ATAR scores,” it said.

It also said graduate-entry degrees would mean candidates had made more mature decisions to enter teaching and would lead to the profession becoming desired by many bright undergraduates and career changers.

The submission also called for more funding for so-called clinical programs of teacher education, such as the Master of Teaching at Melbourne University, in which student teachers spend time in schools every week.

It recommended minimum entry standards and a quota of commonwealth-funded teaching places, to control the oversupply of primary teachers and secondary humanities teachers.

And it said alternative teacher education programs should only be supported if there was evidence of their success.

“Programs like Teach for Australia - while five times more expensive than traditional programs - are increasing despite an absence of a reasonable evaluative basis to continue this support,” the submission said.